“Until We Live Like They Live in Europe”: A Multilevel Framework for Community Empowerment in Subsistence Markets

Building on the capability approach to poverty alleviation, this study argues for a shift in attention from the reduction of poverty to
an increase in well-being. This shift opens up a new perspective in the research and the evaluation of business involvement in
subsistence markets, and provides a theoretical foundation for a holistic approach in order to engage with subsistence markets.
The empirical research follows the urban poor in Tanzania in creating an innovative low-cost housing project. The study argues
that communities can, and should, play an active part in the design of markets in subsistence contexts, and presents a process
model on how such capabilities for well-being and market agency on individual to system levels can gradually be increased.